The present invention relates to an input unit including a transparent touch panel disposed on a display of a liquid crystal display device or the like, and an input pen for handwriting and inputting coordinates.
In a conventional example of an input unit having a transparent touch panel on a display of a liquid crystal display device and an input pen for handwriting and inputting coordinates, the transparent touch panel is comprised of, for example, a supporting body having a fixed electrode formed on one surface thereof, and a film also having a movable electrode formed on one surface thereof. The supporting body and the film are spaced from each other by a slight distance via spacers while the respective surfaces where the electrodes are formed are opposed to each other. A hard coating layer is formed to protect the surface of the transparent touch panel as necessary.
The input pen is used to handwrite and input coordinates of minute information, that is, characters, figures or the like to the surface of the above film at the side of the movable electrode. For this purpose, an end of the input pen is formed of a resin such as nylon, polyacetal, polyamide, or the like so as to prevent damage to the transparent touch panel and to input the coordinates reliably.
In the conventional input unit described above, since the end of the input pen repeatedly slides against the surface of the transparent touch panel when the information is input, it causes abrasion and damage to the surface of the transparent touch panel.
Even when the surface of the transparent touch panel is coated with the hard coating layer, it sometimes happens that the input pen scratches and delaminates the hard coating layer of the transparent touch panel.
If the end of the input pen is formed of a soft material such as rubber, it is possible to reduce the damage to the transparent touch panel. However, the end of the input pen cannot be prevented from being quickly worn out; and therefore, the input pen is short-lived. What's worse, the end of the input pen is bent when it is pressed against the surface of the transparent touch panel, making it difficult to correctly input coordinates.